Mike Copeland holds degrees in Agricultural Chemistry (soil science) and Agricultural Engineering (soil and water engineering). He is both a Registered Engineer (UK) and Registered Natural Scientist (RSA). He has specialised in agricultural and irrigation planning including water supply analysis and project design and has worked as both a consultant and a development manager with over 30 years’ experience in these fields. He worked in Swaziland for 10 years on the sugar estates Mhlume and Simunye where, as Project Manager Development, he was involved in the design and implementation of large scale irrigation and drainage projects. He was the controlling engineer for much of the sub-surface drip irrigation development on these estates and the reconstruction of canals and pump stations, water treatment plants and sub-surface drainage. He has been involved in determining water resource quantification and risk of failure analysis of a number of rivers supplying large irrigation projects coupled with reservoir and balancing storage positioning, sizing and design. Not only has he wide experience in respect of all irrigation technologies, their design, implementation and management but his soils training and knowledge has involved him in many projects where salinity and sodicity problems occur and where the management of difficult soils, such as vertic, hydromorphic and arenaceous soils was required. He has worked as an agricultural development consultant on projects in most Southern African (SADC) member countries – including Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana as well as countries north of SADC - including Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mauritania, Cote d’Voire, Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt and Yemen.